


Scary Stories

by CaramelDarling



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Everyone is friends, Halloween, Humor, M/M, Party, Post-Hogwarts, i guess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-09
Updated: 2016-01-09
Packaged: 2018-05-12 17:21:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5674312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CaramelDarling/pseuds/CaramelDarling
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Pansy and Ginny throw a Halloween party. Draco keeps jumping out at Harry until it goes wrong.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scary Stories

**Author's Note:**

> I know Halloween is over, but I finally finished this story.

**** “Do we really have to go?” Ron complained. “I mean, there’ll be Slytherins there.”

“Ex-Slytherins,” Hermione reminded as she placed fake spiders along her hair and examined herself in the mirror. “How do I look? Do you think the spiders are too much?”

“Yes.” Ron rolled his eyes when Harry sniggered beside him. “What are you supposed to be anyway?”

“A vampire.”

“Vampires don’t look like that, Hermione.”

“I know. But Pansy and Ginny said  _ Muggle _ party and so I’m going to go as a  _ Muggle _ version of a vampire.”

Ron sighed and adjusted the mask of his Batman costume. Harry took him to  _ one _ superhero movie and accidently jump started an obsession. He seemed fascinated with the trinkets and gadgets superheroes used to save the world and how the films portrayed Muggles’ reactions to superhuman powers -- or magic, as he pointed out. His last obsession had been Spider-man, which was surprising given Ron’s fear of spiders.

Harry was going as a Muggle police officer, mostly because he thought it was clever what with him starting his first year as an Auror and because it would confuse the hell out of most of the Slytherins and bring a smile to his Muggleborn friends. Hermione had laughed when she saw it. She was always one to enjoy clever jokes.

“Should we get going? We’re already late,” Harry pointed out.

Hermione nodded, Ron groaned, but they were out the door before he could say anything in protest.

***

Ginny and Pansy decided to throw their “magic-free” Halloween party at a house rumored by the Muggle community to actually be haunted. Harry and his friends had laughed at this when they heard it. After all, they had seen real ghosts and they weren’t anything like Muggles seemed to believe.

Nonetheless, Harry thought the house was pretty creepy when they ended up on its doorstep. It was old and large, worn around the edges. The steps squeaked as they made their way onto the porch. The front yard was bare and the grass was dead.

The music and lights sort of took away from the atmosphere, however, as did the Halloween decorations plastered on the windows ironically. Ron nearly jumped out of his skin when he ran into a fake spider web, but he was probably the only person the Halloween decorations would scare tonight.

Pansy opened the door for them, smiling and already drinking. She wore a revealing version of what might have been a zombie bride, judging by the dirtied white dress and ripped veil.

She ushered them inside, calling Ginny over so that several people stopped to see who had just arrived. Ginny dislodged herself from the small group she’d been talking to and went over to give them each a hug. “Hello, arrgh,” she said, showing off the hook she had in place of her hand.

As they commented on each others’ costumes, Harry scanned the people in the room. He could see Zabini talking to some girls in the corner of the room, Nott downing too much alcohol by the snack bar, but no Draco Malfoy. Ginny had said he would be around, but maybe he’d decided not to come. 

When Malfoy had joined Auror training, Harry was surprised, to say the least, but they’d gotten along alright -- sort of. Sometimes, they still fought like they used to and they certainly weren’t  _ friends _ , but Harry was getting used to him. Was sort of starting to like looking at him. And talking to him. Sometimes.

Sometimes he wanted to snog him too, but that wasn’t something Harry was going to examine too deeply right now.

“Boo!” someone shouted right in Harry’s ear.

Harry found himself face-to-face and much too close to a very pale, ghostly Malfoy. He jumped back before he could stop himself and Malfoy laughed delightedly.

“Woah there, Potter. No need to be so frightened. It’s just me.”

“Git,” Harry snapped, heart still beating rapidly in his chest.

“Only to you,” Malfoy replied, winking. He set off towards the snack bar before Harry could entirely catch his breath.

Harry heard his friends laughing and turned to look at them with feigned betrayal. “That wasn’t funny!” he exclaimed, but it only caused Ginny to snort into her drink.

“He snuck up on you! How are you going to make it as an Auror if you can’t even see Malfoy coming?” she asked laughing.

“Malfoy’s an Auror too. He’s  _ also _ supposed to be discreet.”

“You’ve always been pretty blind to which way Draco’s coming at you, Potter,” Pansy said. She grabbed Ginny’s hand, adding, “Let’s go grab some more alcohol, sweetheart. I’m out.”

Harry tried to get her to clarify what she meant, but Pansy ignored him, waving her empty cup in the air as if to indicate she had more important matters to attend to. He turned to Ron and Hermione, frowning. “Do  _ you _ guys know what she meant by that?”

Hermione looked away, which meant she probably did know. 

Ron just shrugged. “Hell if I understand Slytherins,” he muttered.

“Look, Ron. There’s music. We should dance,” Hermione cut in quickly.

“But I wanted some of that food--”

“We should dance first or else you’ll never leave the table.” She only had to keep her hands on her hips for a second before Ron conceded and let her pull him onto the area deemed the dance floor.

Harry went to sit by himself for a couple of minutes. Until he decided he needed a drink. He followed the direction Ginny and Pansy had gone, moving through groups and smiling at people who waved at him. Ginny and Pansy were nowhere to be found when he made it to the food table, but he didn’t mind too much. They probably went off to snog somewhere. God knew they couldn’t keep their hands off each other for longer than an hour.

He was picking up a bottle of wine and a plastic cup -- not glass, too many things could go wrong there -- when warm fingers caught on his sides and Malfoy’s voice breathed “boo” into his ear.

Harry dropped the cup and barely caught the wine bottle. “ _ God dammit _ , Malfoy!”

Malfoy sniggered, moving to stand where Harry could see him. “Twice in less than an hour, Potter. You need to improve your observation skills.”

“ _ No _ , you need to stop jumping out at me,” Harry sighed, but he smiled when Malfoy smirked at him. “This is a party, Malfoy. You would think I could relax at a party.”

“Psh! Relaxation. Parties are for excitement, Potter. Be thankful I’m giving you that.”

“More like heart attacks but whatever you say.”

Harry took the time to really look at Malfoy’s costume. He wore a white, torn, rag-like shirt and dusty white trousers. His face looked so pale his hair looked bright gold instead of white-gold in comparison. It was a pretty good ghost costume, considering Malfoy had probably never been to a party like this before.

Malfoy’s smile slipped a little, but it widened again as he said, “Like what you see, Potter?”

Harry stopped staring, feeling embarrassed. He poured himself some wine and sipped it to avoid answering or looking at Draco.

Malfoy poured himself some wine too and they sipped quietly for a few minutes, listening to the music. Malfoy was watching people dance. Harry wondered if he wanted to dance too and if it would be weird to ask him to dance with him.

He didn’t have time to test it out. Someone tapped on Malfoy’s shoulder, some guy with nice hair and nice eyes that Harry didn’t know. He smiled awkwardly and gestured towards the dance floor, voice nervous but clear as he asked Draco if he wanted to dance.

Malfoy glanced at Harry, but Harry was too busy not looking to catch his eye. “Alright,” he said and followed the nice-looking bloke onto the dance floor.

Harry swallowed his wine in one go and went to pour himself some more.

After what felt like hours -- although it was probably only minutes -- of not looking at Malfoy dancing but noticing that the other guy was definitely looking, Pansy and Ginny appeared at his side.

Ginny went for the food before she greeted Harry. Pansy followed Harry’s gaze and sighed when she saw her friend.

“Who is that bloke?” Harry asked, trying and failing to sound casual.

Ginny looked. “Oh, him. He’s this bloke that works with Pansy. I don’t know him, but he’s quite cute, isn’t he?”

Harry sulked.  _ No _ ,  _ he’s  _ not _ cute _ , he thought, although he was cute. “Pansy, did you hear what your girlfriend just said?”

“Yes, but he’s almost gayer than Draco, so what’s there to worry about?” Pansy replied. She smirked when Ginny shoved her playfully. “And of course Ginny would never cheat on me.”

Getting tired of their constant flirting and feeling distinctly put out, Harry grabbed the wine bottle and went to find a place to sit without even telling them goodbye. He heard Ginny shout at him for being rude, but she didn’t sound too offended so he didn’t worry about it. The emptiest table already seated two people, Blaise Zabini and some Slytherin girl Harry didn’t know, but he sat there anyway.

Zabini raised an eyebrow at him but didn’t say anything. Harry drank his wine and noticed he was starting to feel a tiny bit intoxicated. He set the wine down, trying to pace himself.

Harry’s eyes easily found Draco again. The song was ending and the bloke was leading Malfoy to the sidelines, touching his shoulders and looking charming with all his smiles and things.  _ Merlin _ , Harry was annoyed.

The Slytherin girl let out a long whistle. She was looking at Malfoy too. “Looks like Draco’s going to get lucky tonight,” she sniggered.

Blaise turned. “Not too bad. I’ve seen him go home with worse.”

No, no, no. Harry  _ really _ didn’t want to hear this. This was a party. He was supposed to be  _ enjoying _ himself, not spending all his time worrying about Malfoy and good-looking men.

“He looked over here,” the girl said. “Hi, Draco!” She waved.

Harry risked a glance and accidently caught Malfoy’s eyes. He didn’t have time to decipher their look though, because he grabbed his wine and went to find somewhere quieter.

There was a door around a couple of corners, through some corridors. The house was pretty creepy without the music and the people. It was quiet, the only sound the distant drumming of music.

Harry listened to the sound of his footsteps as he reached the door and went for the door knob. At first, it seemed like it was locked, but after a firmer turn and a pull the door snapped open. Dust emerged from the entrance. He waved it away and took a look inside, but it was just a closet.

Footsteps sounded behind him. If it hadn’t been so quiet, he wouldn’t have noticed them. He jumped to the side as someone lunged for him, shouting, “Boo!”

Malfoy wasn’t expecting him to move and started to fall. Harry reached to grab him, but Malfoy took hold of his arm and pulled him forward. The wine bottle shattered at their feet. Something clattered against the floor. Harry grabbed the doorknob to stop the fall, but it only caused the door to slam shut behind them as they both tumbled into the room.

Darkness.

And then: “What the bloody hell, Potter? You weren’t supposed to  _ move _ .”

“How was I supposed to know it was you?” Harry nearly shouted.

“Did you think it was a real ghost or something? Who else would it be?”

Harry swallowed a new surge of anger. “Whatever. It’s… fine.” He got to his feet clumsily and tried to make out Malfoy’s face, but the darkness was too complete. “Er, do you think you could cast a  _ Lumos _ or something?”

There was rustling and shifting shadows until Malfoy let out a deep, defeated sigh. “I think I dropped my wand. You cast it.”

Harry was silent.

“Potter?”

“Hermione… has my wand.”

Harry could almost feel the anger radiating off him. “You didn’t bring your wand?” Malfoy asked slowly.

“There was nowhere to put it with my costume!”

“That doesn’t--” Draco sighed again. “You’re unbelievable. Will you just open the door? Thank Merlin we’re not stuck--”

“Er,” Harry said as he found the doorknob and tried to turn it.

“No,” Malfoy said.

“Yes,” Harry said nervously.

“We are  _ not _ stuck in here.”

“Give me a second.” Maybe the door was just stuck again. Harry pushed against the door, turned the doorknob past its limit, and yelped when the knob came off in his hand. “Oh no.”

“What did you do?”

Harry tried for a moment to put it back, but it was impossible in the darkness. He turned towards Draco’s voice, swallowing. “So, I may or may not have broken the doorknob.”

“Potter! You didn’t. Tell me you didn’t.”

“Alright then. I didn’t.”

Malfoy’s hand suddenly pressed against Harry’s chest -- Harry sucked in a surprised breath -- but that wasn’t where he meant it to go apparently, because the hand moved until it found the doorknob Harry was clutching to for dear life. “ _ Potter _ ,” Draco whined. “ _ Why _ ?”

“I didn’t mean to!”

Malfoy wasn’t listening anymore, though. He’d turned away and Harry heard him shuffling around, making disgusted sounds and cursing under his breath.

“What are you doing?” Harry asked.

“Trying to figure out what’s in here. I think we’re in a closet.” Draco laughed humorlessly. “And here I thought I came out years ago.” Before Harry could say anything in response to that, Malfoy shouted, “Ah-ha!” and shined a torch in Harry’s face.

Harry blinked and turned away. “Stop! I can’t see.”

“Is that anything new?” Draco teased but turned the torch away. Harry blinked away the lights in his eyes and caught Malfoy smiling at the torch in his hand.

“Well, lucky we found a torch, I suppose,” Harry said.

“I found the torch.”

Harry ignored him. “How do you even know how to use a torch anyway? It’s a Muggle thing.”

Malfoy blinked at him. “Please, Potter. I know  _ some _ Muggle things at least. Plus, I saw it in a Muggle film.”

A smile tugged at Harry’s lips at the idea of Malfoy going to see a Muggle film. “And who took you to a Muggle film exactly?”

A beat of silence passed. Draco stared at Harry until he started feeling self-conscious. Draco said, “Old boyfriends.”

_ Oh. _ Harry nodded, pressing his lips together and turning back to the door. “Shine the light here. I’m going to try to fix the doorknob.”

Draco didn’t say anything more. He pointed the light at the rest of the doorknob fitted into the door. It would’ve been easier if the entire thing had come off, but only the part meant for turning did. Harry sighed and tried to stick the doorknob back on, but it wouldn’t stay. He could feel Malfoy’s eyes on him, judging him -- probably.

After a minute or two, Draco sighed loudly and said, “Let me try, Potter. At this rate, we’ll be here forever.”

Harry paused, looked at him and back to the door, shrugged, and handed Draco the doorknob. He took the torch as Draco bent down to try to achieve what Harry couldn’t. In about thirty seconds, Harry guessed, Draco would be throwing the doorknob across the small room.

Draco cursed. “How in Merlin’s name do Muggles  _ fix _ any of what they make?” Draco growled in frustration, dropped the doorknob, and rammed shoulder-first into the door.

Harry startled. “Draco, stop! There’s not enough room for that.”

Draco stilled. He turned to Harry, not looking angry or indignant or pouty in any way. Instead, he looked surprised -- good surprised, as if someone had just given him a birthday present early. He stepped away from the door. “You’re right, I suppose.” Harry blinked as he sunk to the ground and stretched his arms. “Best thing to do is wait now.”

“Er, yeah.” Harry sat down too. A beat of silence passed. Draco watched as Harry fiddled nervously with the torch, making strange shadows with his hands without meaning to. “Maybe,” Harry said, “Maybe we should do something to pass the time.”

“Maybe we should,” Draco whispered. It sounded strangely suggestive when he said it like that.

“Er, uh, scary stories?” Harry pointed the torch at Draco’s face in his nervousness and Draco covered his eyes, shouting, “Merlin’s pants, Potter!”

“Sorry.” Harry turned the torch towards the ceiling.

“You start,” Draco said. When Harry frowned in confusion, he added, “Scary stories?”

“Ohh. Oh, right. Give me a minute.” Harry stared at the ceiling, where the light was making Draco’s shadow look too large. He moved his thumb onto the torch and watched as its shadow blended with Draco’s shoulder. “Once upon a time--”

“Really?”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“You’re going to start with ‘once upon a time’? Are you telling a children’s story?” Draco snorted and shook his head.

“You think you can do better?”

“Much, Potter.”

Harry handed Draco the torch, settled back against the wall, and crossed his arms. He watched Draco blink repeatedly and then tighten his grip on the torch.

Draco cleared his throat and feigned a smile. Harry returned it. “Do you know what was on the land before the manor was built?”

“A village of poor farmers?” Harry joked.

Draco ignored him but Harry saw his eyebrows twitch. “A fairy graveyard.”

“That’s bullcrap.”

“What do you know, Potter? Let me tell the story.”

Harry did. The story involved death and vampires and zombie fairies and it was all too fantastical to be real, but it was better and more terrifying than anything Harry would ever be able to tell. He listened with all his attention and kept making comments that Draco ignored entirely.

“So, the fairies left the Malfoys alone after that, but several people died and sometimes, if you look out a window at night, you can see a silver light in the gardens and hear the fairies crying,” Draco finished. He looked at Harry expectantly, a smug smile playing at his lips.

“That’s such a load of bullcrap.”

“It is  _ not _ \--”

“Are fairies even real?”

“Only you would ask such an inane question.” He threw the torch at Harry and crossed his arms sulkily. “Your turn then. See if you can do any better.”

Harry sighed. “Er…”

“Can’t, can you?”

“Shut up. I can--”

Draco went unusually still. “Did you hear that?”

“No?”

“Shh.” Draco took back the torch and shined it deeper into the closet.

Harry automatically reached for his wand and resisted smacking himself when he remembered he didn’t have it. He listened closely until he was almost convinced Draco had imagined it. And then, there it was, a soft groaning noise.

“The house creaking?” Harry whispered.

They didn’t hear anything after another minute. Draco relaxed. “Maybe.”

“Seems your story has us both wound tight,” Harry joked. “Never was much of a fan of Halloween.”

Draco looked ready to make fun of him and then his expression crumbled and he frowned. “Your parents--”

“We’re at a party, Malfoy.”

Draco nodded. “Right.”

“I already went to visit them.”

Draco paused. “Right.”

Harry took the torch slowly and pointed it upwards, under his chin. “Once upon a time, there were these two blokes at a Halloween party.” He grinned as Draco rolled his eyes and leaned back again to listen. “One of these blokes wouldn’t give the other a second of peace and they ended up stuck in some closet far, far away from their friends.”

“Are you blaming this on me?”

“Don’t see who else’s fault it is.” Harry waited for him to point out that he was the one who went looking for a quiet place. Harry would have responded with something along the lines of, “you followed me” which, now that he was thinking about it, had him curious. Draco seemed content to accept the blame and Harry took the chance to ask. “Malfoy?”

“What?”

“Why did you follow me?”

Draco stared at his feet.

“You were with that nice-looking bloke. W-With the hair.” Harry gestured at his own hair uselessly.

Draco smiled a little.

“And… and the eyes.”

“You have those things too, Potter.”

Harry leaned over and tried to kiss him and his lips caught Draco’s nose. He moved backwards, face flushed but didn’t get far.

Draco caught Harry’s shirt in one hand. “At least, try again,” he said and pulled.

Harry used his newly learned Auror skills to adjust his head remarkably quickly and catch Draco’s lips in time. Draco tasted like the wine he’d been drinking earlier and he delved deeper, trying to find that taste he knew was just Draco. The taste that would be there when Harry did this again and again and again.

“ _ Sooo unfair _ .”

They sprang apart so fast Draco slammed his head against the door. Harry pointed the torch like a wand at an honest-to-god ghost sitting in the corner of the closet. This ghost wasn’t like any Harry had seen before, though. He was more solid and his face seemed dusty white rather than transparent. 

It had to be the light (or lack thereof) and Harry forced himself to relax a bit.

“I never got my first kiss, you know. Not in the twenty-five years I lived,” he said.

“Er… What?”

The ghost ignored Harry and instead pointed at the corner opposite him. “I died right there. They didn’t find my body for weeks--”

“Okay!” Draco leaned forward with a feigned smile. Harry could see he was nervous by the tension in his shoulder, but his smile was almost convincing. “The thing is,  _ we _ don’t want to die in here. If you could do us the favor of helping us out of here or notifying someone…”

The ghost stared at him. “No,” he said. “I’ve waited a long time for company.”

A beat of silence passed and Draco’s smile dissolved into a cold glare Harry hadn’t seen in a long time. “Trust me when I say I will  _ not _ be pleasant company. Especially in my afterlife.”

“Oh, no, no, no. I don’t mean for you to die. Just for a few hours or a few days--”

Draco lunged forward and Harry caught him around the waist. “He’s just lonely, Draco,” Harry reasoned.

“I don’t  _ care _ \--” He sighed in frustration and leaned his head on Harry’s shoulder. Harry stiffened slightly, smiled, and leaned into Draco as well. “Days, Potter! I’m not staying here for days.”

“You won’t have to. Our friends will come looking when we don’t come back,” Harry whispered.

Draco looked at his face. They were both shadowed in darkness as the torch was still pointed at the ghost, but Draco reached over and wiped away something on Harry’s chin. “I got my make-up all over you.”

“Good. That bloke will know to stay away.”

“One snog and you think we’re soulmates.” But Draco was smiling -- Harry could feel his lips curve against his neck.

“I was once in love,” the ghost said. “She was beautiful. Didn’t have much interest in me, though. Said I talked too much though that notion is ridiculous, isn’t it…”

Draco groaned.

The ghost frowned, offended. “Well, I’m  _ sorry _ my love life wasn’t as exciting as yours. I lived a very closeted life… Ironic, really, that I should die in a closet.”

Someone’s voice drifted from the other side of the door and Harry jolted. Draco shot him a look and then heard it too.

“What a bloody  _ mess _ ,” Pansy said, voice slightly slurred. “Potter is drunker than I thought.”

“Is that a wand?” It was Hermione’s voice.

Harry pounded on the door. The ghost shouted, “ _ nooo _ ” and rose towards them, eyes ablaze. “ _ You can’t leave yet _ .”

“Pansy!” Draco shouted.

There was Hermione’s voice again with an  _ Alohomora _ and the door snapped open and quickly shut again.

“ _ Don’t leave _ !” The ghost was closer now, angrier. He reached his hands towards them, fingers curling as if around an invisible neck. “I want to hear more stories. Fairies, vampires…”

Harry and Draco were on their feet, trying again to push open the door with force. Another  _ Alohomora _ and they tumbled out together, falling halfway and catching themselves against each other.

“ _ WAIT _ !”

Draco kicked the door shut on the ghost’s face.

“What was that?” Ginny grabbed hold of Harry’s shoulder, eyes wide.

“A ghost,” Harry said.

“What? That’s impossible. Only Muggles have lived here.” Pansy shook her head, playing with Draco’s wand nervously. Draco put his hand out towards her and she handed it back.

“I don’t know what to tell you, Pansy, but that was a ghost and not like one I’ve seen before.”

“Only magical beings can be ghosts,” Hermione said.

“Then he must’ve been magical.” Draco stepped around the wine and broken glass. “Nice job here, Potter.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “Should we leave him in there? Do you think he can get out? He wasn’t very… transparent.”

“Leave him. I don’t like him.” Draco replied. “I think he just tried to kill us.”

“No… Did he?”

Draco took Harry’s hand and pulled him away from the door. Pansy whistled at them excitedly. “Yes. Come on. We can make up for that dance you didn’t ask me for.”

Harry grinned.

“Maybe there is some truth in Muggle stories,” Harry heard Ginny whisper to Pansy.

Pansy shrugged, smiling in amusement. “Well, stories start somewhere, don’t they?”

**Author's Note:**

> So I know I've gone forever (SORRY!) and I'm probably going to take down "No Magic Allowed" until (if -- I'm so sorry) I finish it. Right now, having it up is just stressing me out. From now on, I'll only upload complete stories.


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